The Price
by Bellatrix wannabe 89
Summary: The Queen warned the thief what would happen. Each of them knew the steep price they would pay if they saw one another again but Robin was more than willing to pay it if it meant he could see her one last time. OQ Angstfest Prompts 3, 19 & 24


**I own no one but my own people**

A/N Thanks to Curious Archer for betaing. Love you!

 **Warning Character Death**

She had been young. So innocent, humble and shy when she walked into the tavern and changed his life forever. The moment Robin's ocean blue eyes fell on the young Queen he knew he had found the person he was meant to be with. He had been born to gaze into those beautiful brown eyes for the rest of his days.

He would have been a poor outlaw indeed if he didn't know what his Queen looked like but the portraits he saw of her, or the face that was inscribed on the back of the silver coins he so often stole, didn't do her justice in real life.

Regina was breathtaking. Stunning, in every way.

They met in secret. In their tavern far from the castle, in the forest beneath their tree, in his camp… They would meet in secret, talk in secret, be together in secret, love one another in secret.

He would sneak into the castle and lay with her. Sometimes they would spend the night making love until the sun rose over the horizon, while other times he would just hold her as she told him of the life she had once dreamt of, and he would tell her of the grand heists he pulled off. She would confide in him that Leopold hit her, not that he needed the confirmation when he saw the bruises that marked her beautiful porcelain colored skin. She told him what happened to her first love, how she never wanted to be with the king, how she was forced to mother the young girl responsible for his death, how she was learning magic from an imp named Rumpelstiltskin that filled her with anger and hatred but when she was Robin, that anger seemed to just melt away like the sun shining through dark storm clouds.

One night Robin begged the young Queen to run away with him. Leave the abusive king, forget the princess she had no affection for, become a bandit in the woods with him and he would do everything in his power to make her happy for the rest of her life.

Tears of joy rushed to her eyes as she told him she would. She would go with him to Sherwood Forest, to some realm far beyond the Enchanted Forest. She would go anywhere as long as it was with him.

Robin kissed her and the two made love long into the night until the sun came up and he was forced to leave her bedside for the last time.

They were to meet at their tree in Sherwood Forest an hour past sundown two days from now. She would take only some practical clothes, the simple brown peasant dress and warm woolen brown cloak Robin had given to her so that she would blend in easier when she came to visit him, along with a pair of used black boots he had also gifted her for the same reason.

The first time Regina wore the disguise, she hadn't believed Robin when he called her beautiful. She rolled her eyes when he told her how gorgeous she looked. What was beautiful about a plain brown dress and boots with scuff marks on them?

But the outlaw said that the extravagant gowns she wore belonged to a Queen who was unhappy. Who was trapped in a loveless abusive marriage. These rags though? They showcased a woman who was free and happy and in love with the thief sitting beside her.

Regina had never loved an outfit more than she did those rags she was wearing right that second...

She could also bring whatever personal items she could fit in the satchel he had stolen for her but that was it. The one outfit and a bag of her choosing, having to keep in mind that her bed roll and blankets would also need to fit in it.

Robin apologized for the limits he was giving her on what belongings she could take but this would be her life now. Sleeping under the stars, only bringing what could fit on her back, baths in the Sherwood River...

But Regina said she didn't care. She would rather live as a free outlaw in the forest with Robin then stay a queen in a stone prison with Leopold.

He promised that in two days time they would finally be together, gave her their last hidden kiss and left the castle to prepare for her arrival.

The following two days were the longest in Robin's life. He set her up her own tent incase she ever needed space away from Robin or the other Merry Men and sewed together a beautiful gray wolf fur blanket to keep her warm at night. The skins were from that of the few beasts who were brave enough to try to attack a man in a forest late at night, all of whom Robin had slain himself.

He also bought her a ring he was going to give to her the next night, trading his handsome black leather saddle - the one thing he had kept from his days as a Lord's son - for it.

It was a simple golden ring. A far cry from the royal jewels she had access too, and probably not worth more than half of the gold paint that lined the plates they ate off. He could have easily stolen a much finer ring but he didn't want her engagement ring to be marked with dishonor.

Plus he knew that she would love it, no matter what it had cost.

He took it to one of the blacksmiths in the town of Nottingham that he often gave the more ornate weapons he stole and asked him as a courtesy. To engrave a small lion into the metal, a representation of the tattoo that had led them together.

Robin arrived under their tree an hour earlier than he needed to be, the ring safely in his breast pocket. He waited patiently for Regina to arrive. The time they had agreed to meet upon came and then it went but the thief wasn't worried. She had probably got held up at the castle. She would be here soon.

Another hour passed and still no sign of Regina.

Leopold had probably summoned his queen to his chambers this evening, the guards would have forced her to go. One thing about the old man was he never lasted long. She would here soon, finally free of him. She would never feel an unwanted touch again…

It was nearing two in the morning when Robin began to worry. What if she was caught escaping? What if she was she met up with some unscrupulous highway men who would do her harm? She was probably in danger, that was why she hadn't come to her beloved.

Robin had to rescue her! He had to save her!

But what if he left and it turns out she was just delayed? She would think he abandoned her.

As he sat there, debating on whether or not to make his way to the castle to see if she was okay, he saw her in the distance. A relieved smile, bigger than any he had ever worn before graced his face as he ran over to meet her.

But the moment he got close enough to see her fully, he knew something was wrong. She was dressed in a dark purple silk gown with stiletto boots, completely impractical for the trek through the forest she knew she would have to take, and the brown satchel he had stolen for her nowhere in sight.

"Regina?" Robin asked as he jogged up to her, worry etched onto his face. "Is everything alright? Did you rip the dress I gave you? And where's your bag? Do I need to retrieve it from the castle still?"

The Queen swallowed hard as she looked at her soulmate. Her eyes had a solid rim of red around them like she had been crying and spent hours wiping the tears away.

"Did Leopold hurt you?"

"My husband didn't do anything to me," she answered and warning signals echoed in his head.

She never referred to him as 'her husband'. He was always just Leopold or the King. Never the title that Robin wanted the utmost honor of having for himself.

"Regina, what is going on?" Robin asked, suddenly very aware of every noise the forest surrounding them made, expecting to hear the thunder of guards footsteps any second.

"Nothing's going on."

She was lying. She was a terrible liar, she always wore every emotion on her sleeve.

"I...I can't do this anymore," Regina told him.

"Can't do what? Talk to me, M'lady, please."

She closed her eyes against the onset of tears.

"I don't want to be with you, Robin."

The outlaws felt his heart jump into his throat, the earth was spinning a million miles a minute and standing still all at once. He had misheard her. He had to have, she didn't say that, she wasn't leaving him. "What… what did you say?"

His voice was barely above a whisper but in the cool dark night she could hear it as easily as if he shouted his words.

Her lips trembled as she spoke again. "I said I don't want to be with you."

Robin felt his world collapsing all at once. His soulmate, the woman he loved, no longer wanted to be with him…

No. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong, she wouldn't just leave him like this.

"Regina, wha-... Why would you… I- I don't understand, you were going to run away with me."

He struggled to keep his voice the calm even tone he usually spoke in but he felt his emotions rising to the surface and starting to boil over.

Another hard swallow from the Queen before she spoke. "I don't want to be an outlaw," she said.

"You- You don't have to be! You don't. I'll- I'll give up thievery, I'll never steal another piece of gold so long as I live," he told her desperately. And he meant every word. If that's what it took to get her to stay, he would give up being a thief with a grin on his face and a song in his heart. "We can get a little cabin on the edge of the forest, we can live happily the rest of our lives. All I need is you and I will be the happiest man alive," he continued.

"No."

"What?"

"I said no. I don't want to be with you at all."

The broken pieces of his heart crashed into the pit of his stomach as he looked at her. "Regina, I… I thought you loved me."

Tears gathered in her brown eyes that she blinked away.

She straightened herself up to her full regal statue.

"I'm married," she told him in a no nonsense voice. "I love Leopold. I'm the Queen, I can't just abandon my husband and the throne because I thought I had feelings for some peasant outlaw."

Robin felt his entire world falling away to nothing. She had never once, not once the entire time they had been together, called him either of those names. She had never mocked him for his lifestyle, she had never scoffed at the fact he washed his clothes in the river or choose to live a life as a simple commoner. She had never made fun of the fact he was, as she had just reminded him, 'some peasant outlaw'.

It hurt far more than he thought it would.

The thief steeled his nerves as he looked at his Queen. He took any emotion out of his words. "This is what you want, Regina? What you truly want?"

"It's Your Majesty," she reminded him.

If his heart wasn't crushed before, that demand that he use her title had surely turned it to dust.

"And yes. I don't love you, Robin, I never did. You were just some infatuation I had, it didn't mean anything."

Robin nodded slowly. "I see. Then I suppose I have no choice but to leave you with a hope that you are happy with the life you've chosen. Goodbye… Your Majesty."

He bowed low to the Queen, something he had never once done before, nor had she ever requested it of him.

Taking one last moment to memorize her beautiful face, Robin turned and walked back into the forest, the golden ring in his pocket feeling like it weighed a thousand pounds.

He thought about his Queen nearly every waking moment in the days that followed. When he got back to the camp he wordlessly took down the tent he had set up for her, ignoring the pitying glances from his men. The next day he gave away the blanket he had made to a homeless beggar so that the old man might have some comfort out in the cold world.

He kept the ring. He couldn't find it in his heart to give it up. It wasn't his to give away anyway, it was supposed to be hers. So he put it on a simple silver chain and wore it around his neck. The weight of it reminding him exactly who he was.

A peasant outlaw.

A month had passed when John approached the sullen man who had made his camp off the beaten path, not wanting his melancholy to infect the rest of the men. He told him to forget about The Queen. To go down to the tavern, get a few mugs of ale and spend the night with one, or more, of the eager lovely barmaids who would have fought tooth and nail for a chance to spread their legs for the handsome outlaw. He bet if Robin even asked nice enough, they would pretend to be the Queen.

But he ignored his best friend's advice. Told him there was only one woman he would ever want to lay with again, and there was only one sets of eyes he wanted to gaze into.

Robin clutched the ring that hung at his breast on the silver chain as he closed his eyes. He missed her. So much. He missed her smile and her warmth and her passion and her silk like hair he would run his fingers through and the way she used to whisper his name against his skin when they were together.

No.

No, this wasn't right. He KNEW Regina loved him, he knew she wanted to run away with him. Something wasn't right, he should have seen it before instead of letting his pain blind him.

He had to see her. He had to be sure this was something she had chosen and not something someone else had decided for her.

Without another word, Robin stood and slung his bow and quiver over his shoulder again and walked with a new found determination back towards camp with John following behind.

"What are you going to do?" John asked him. "She already told you she doesn't love you."

"Perhaps," he said as he climbed atop his horse, a brown and white steed that was smaller than most of the other men's but it was the fastest animal any of them had seen. "But I have to see her, John. I have to make sure this is what she wants."

"Robin-."

"I'll be back around dawn."

"I don't want your heart broken again," John said quickly. Robin's face fell as he looked down at his friend.

"My heart's already broken. I'm giving it a chance to mend."

"Robin, please-."

But without another word Robin kicked the large animal with the heel of his boot and galloped faster than any arrow leaving his bow, back towards her castle. His mind racing so fast it was hard to pick a single thought to focus on.

All he knew was he had to get to her.

The woods were home to him and his horse, who navigated through the brush and trees as easily as they were riding through an open field, even when the darkness of night was upon them. Soon enough the castle rose in the distance and he urged the horse on.

He had snuck in several times before. When the king and Snow were away and the castle was mostly abandoned apart from a few staff and Regina. Though Robin could tell the king was there tonight. Two guards stood in front of the castle and several of the windows were awash with the yellow light from the fireplaces.

Robin stopped at the edge of the forest and pulled the hood of his cloak up to better assist him in hiding in the shadows before he moved forward.

It was sixty eight steps from the edge of the forest to the east wall of the castle. Through the door on the side off the kitchen, then fifty four stairs. Quickly hide in the shadows until the guards had passed, then forty nine paces down the hallway to the right. Out a window on the far left side, grab hold of the ivy and vines that grew on the stone wall and finally a long climb.

Robin had made the ascent a dozen or so times and his strength had never faltered before nor did it now. He saw the light of her fire glowing in the window from below and as he climbed higher and higher, he heard voices and noises coming from her chambers.

He climbed high enough where he could listen in, perching on a windows ledge just out of sight if someone were to glance out the window that he had settled neatly onto many a time before when a maid or a guard had come knocking.

"Leopold," Regina moaned as her bed creaked obnoxiously loud. "Oh my king…"

Robin swallowed hard as he listened to his beloved call out her husband's name the way she used to call out his. Perhaps in Robin's absence, she had grown to love the man who had once hurt her. Perhaps he had grown a more gentler hand.

The outlaw bowed his head. It seemed she was telling the truth. She really had stopped loving him.

Just as he was about to start the long trek down again, he heard a noise that shattered his heart.

Regina crying out in pain followed by a desperate; "I can't do this! I can't, Leopold, stop!"

Robin almost made his presence aware to those inside her chambers as he clambered back up to his spot beside her window. He heard the aged king sigh as if he were reprimanding a child. "Regina… You made a promise."

"I know, I know, I just- you're hurting me! I can't-! Please!"

"Do you want me to go back on my end of the bargain?"

"No!"

Her voice was desperate and frantic, it almost made Robin forget his senses and go crashing into her chambers with his bow drawn, ready to defend her. He had never heard her sound so terrified. What on earth had the king promised her that frightened her that badly? What was worth her laying under the man she despised and pretending to enjoy the foul cruelty he was inflicting on her?

"Then you're going to lay back." The sickening sounds of a sloppy wet kiss and a whimper of disgust from her. "And you are going to act like I am the best you have ever been with."

Robin gripped the edge of the ledge so hard he felt the stone digging into his flesh as he heard her take a trembling breath followed by the sound of the bed creaking again. She proceeded to call out the King's name as if she were calling out the name of her lover and not her tormentor.

Every false passionate cry, every moan was a dagger in the heart to the thief who wanted nothing more than to run in and murder the man who was hurting the woman he loved.

Leopold cried out Eva's name when he finished.

Robin listened as the man got up from the bed and heard shuffling around the room as he dressed himself.

"Snow says you've been melancholy these last few weeks," Leopold informed her. "She said she can hear your tears at night when you think she's asleep."

Regina didn't respond to the accusations.

"For some reason, you being upset, upsets my daughter. So Regina?"

"Yes?"

"Muffle your cries at night."

Robin glared out into the night as Regina muttered a promise she would do better. Then, without so much as another word, Leopold left the bedroom. The moment the door latched, Robin heard his Queen let out a sob before muffled cries came from the room like she had put her face into a pillow in an effort to appease the king.

Robin waited several minutes incase Leopold walked back in before he soundlessly stepped over onto the window and climbed into her bedroom. Regina had changed into a silky white night slip and was laying in bed, her face facing the opposite end of the window as silent tears rolled down her face onto her satin sheets.

The thief simply stared at the Queen for the longest time from the shadowy corner of her chambers.

She was so beautiful.

Robin allowed himself to watch her undisturbed for a moment before he took a step into the light and spoke the two words he had first said to her in their tavern. A time that felt almost like it was a whole other lifetime ago.

"Hello, M'lady."

Regina's whole body froze before she turned to face him, her brown eyes wide with shock and, dare he say it, a sliver of fear. "Robin," she breathed softly.

Angels voices couldn't compare to the beauty of hearing her say his name after a month of being denied the luxury.

"What-... What are you doing here?" she asks after the initial shock of seeing her ex in her bed chambers late at night wore off. "Why did you come back?"

"I missed you."

It was as simple and as honest an answer as he could give.

Tears flooded Regina's eyes as she slowly got out of her bed and made her way over to her thief, wrapping her arms around him and laying her head on his broad shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her, slowly stroking the silk strands of her hair that had gone without his touch for far too long. He had gone too long without that luscious smell of apples and cinnamon and spices, too long without feeling her body flush against his, too long since he had been with her.

They held one another for far too short a time before Regina pulled away so she could look up at him. "You shouldn't be here," she told him as she sniffed away her tears. "The king is here, if he-."

"I don't care," Robin interrupted. "I don't care about him. I had to see you."

Regina swallowed and Robin watched as she tried her best to steel her gaze, failing miserably in her efforts.

"I told you, I don't love you. I don't want to be with you."

His words still stung as much as they had last time. It was still like a hot burning dagger to his heart but he forced himself to look past his heartache this time.

"You need to leave now, before someone catches you and gets the wrong idea," she continued but he stood fast.

"You're lying," he told her rather bluntly.

"How dare you," she hissed.

"You're lying," he said again, undeterred by her insistence. "I know you are because right then, when I held you in my arms, that was real." He gently reached up and wiped away the tears that had fallen down the Queen's face, burying his rough calloused hand in her hair. "What I feel for you. What you feel for me… that is true, Regina."

Tears flooded the Queens eyes as she looked up at him and Robin wanted nothing more than to wipe her tears away, wipe all of her fears and doubts and all that pain her mother and husband had inflicted on her.

For half a moment Robin thought she was going to kiss him, but then she shook her head, taking a step away from the thief and it was as if it physically pained her to not be close to him.

"It doesn't matter," she told him. "What I feel for you, what you feel for me… We can't be together, Robin."

"Why?" he demanded. "Why can't we be together?"

"Because," was the only word she offered and the blue eyed man shook his head.

"Not good enough."

"Robin, please, just go!" She begged and he was stunned at how desperate she sounded. "Please leave!"

"Not until you give me an answer."

"Because you-... You're a commoner, and a thief and-."

"Oh don't give me that, that's not the answer and we both know it." He stormed up to her and he stared down his former lover. "Tell me the real reason why we can't be together, tell me why you wouldn't run away and be happy with me."

"Robin, please leave!"

"Tell me why, Regina."

"He knows!"

The two words seemed to still the air. He inhaled sharply at the Queens words as he watched her wipe her tears.

"One of the guards brother," she answered the unasked question. "He was in the tavern one night. He told his brother, his brother told the king, then got promoted to the status of a knight."

Robin swallowed hard as she placed a hand on her stomach, a sign, Robin had noticed during their first date in the tavern, that she was upset or afraid. Two things he had always wanted to fix more than any other thing when she was with him.

"How long?" He managed to ask. "How long has he known?"

"About three weeks before you asked me if I wanted to run away with you. I-... Robin I left." Tears flooded her eyes as she admitted what she had wanted to say to him every day since she left him in the woods. "I left the castle that night. I was in the dress you bought me and… He caught me. At the door, Leopold did, he um-..." She closed her eyes as if to fight against the onset of oncoming tears. "He had his guards hold a knife at my throat and he… He said he knew where your camp was, that he would…"

She whimpered as if the memory was a cut that was still fresh, as if the words Leopold had told her actually injured her.

He knew what the threat had been. He knew what the threat was even if she couldn't say it outloud.

"He threatened my life," said Robin softly.

Regina confirmed it with a nod and a moment later a sob that tore the outlaws heart into two. "He- he said to tell you I didn't want to be with you, that I never wanted to see you again… He said he had guards surrounding your camp, that if I didn't he would kill your men, he would kill you and I couldn't lose you, Robin, I couldn't-.".

By then, her words were indistinguishable from her sobs and Robin quickly embraced her, wrapping her in the warmth and comfort she had so craved this past month.

"It's alright," he whispered as she lay her head on his shoulders, clutching his shirt as if she could tether him to her. He stroked her long black hair, having gone far too long without feeling the silk tressles. "It's alright, M'lady."

They held one another tightly for the longest time. Neither one of them ever wanted to let go of the other for the rest of their lives. They both prayed that Leopold and the threats of death and anything else that would tear them apart would simply disappear and let them live happily together.

But Regina Mills prayers were never answered. Not now in the arms of her thief, not when her stable boy fell to the ground of the barn where they had stolen far too few kisses. She pulled away from his warm embrace, staring into his eyes for what she knew would be her last time.

"You have to leave," she told him. "If the king catches you…"

"I don't care about him," Robin told her in return. "I don't care about his threats, neither do my men."

"But I care about YOU!" Regina cried, desperate for him to listen. Tears filled her brown eyes just as before as her voice trembled. "I lost love before. I don't want to lose you too." Robins face fell as she stroked his face, letting her thumbs run over his light touch of scruff. "Please go."

"Regina-."

"Robin, please!"

He bit his lip as he looked at her. He would not leave her in this misery, he would not let the woman he loved be tortured and defiled and miserable simply for something as insignificant as his life.

Robin shook his head. "No. I don't care about threats from some old king. I don't care what it will cost me. I'm not losing you." He buried his hand in her hair, and laid his forehead against hers. "When does the king leave again?"

Regina swallowed hard. "Next week. Friday morning."

"Then Friday afternoon the Queen will be kidnapped. She will be stolen by ruffians in exchange for gold."

Confusion etched onto her face before a smile broke out.

"She'll write desperate letters to her king, begging him to save her from these strangers. The ransom will never be enough," Robin continued. "The outlaws will keep demanding more and more until the king decides his child's nanny and his bedmate isn't worth what they're asking."

"They'd never suspect you or the men," Regina added.

"Why would they? Not when the leader of the Merry Men is in love with the Queen and is offering his own reward for her safe return that just so happens to reach the King's ears…"

Regina could barely believe what Robin was telling her. Could she really have this? Could she really have happiness with her soulmate? Could she finally be free of the King's clutches?

As she looked into the eyes of her thief, she knew she could and would have all she and wanted...

He stroked her face and kissed her softly to seal the promise that he would return for her on Friday afternoon to finally take her away from this life.

With that Regina watched with a smile as he descended down the wall he had climbed up, looking down at him until he disappeared from view and, for the first time in a very long time, she went to bed with a smile on her face…

At the same time, Robin stepped outside the castle door, grinning as he leaned against the stone wall, his heart fluttering as if he were a young school boy.

He was going to save his Queen. He was going to bring an end to any suffering Regina had gone through in her long unfair life and he was going to spend every waking minute making up for the pain others had caused her.

Robin smiled as he reached up and grabbed the golden ring. This was going to be hers after all. They would marry, she would be happy together, they would have children together, Robin had always thought two boys and a beautiful little girl would be just perfect… Everything was going to be just-

No. Something wasn't right.

If he had noticed the blade half a second earlier he would have had time to grab it. If he hadn't of been distracted with the thoughts of a future with her, he would have noticed the black clad guard sneaking up on him. He would have had time to wrestle the knife out of the guards hands, to grab his bow, to grab his own dagger, to do anything to defend himself but it was too late.

A leather clad hand covered his mouth as the sharp metal sank deep into his side once, twice, three times. Robin's cries were muffled by the hand and he fell to the ground as the attacker twisted the knife inside of him. The assaulter grabbed hold of his hair and yanked it so Robin had no choice but to look up at the king standing over him.

"You should be more careful when you make your climb," Leopold told him, his voice soft and dangerous, his green eyes shining with malice. "When the moon is as full as it is tonight, even a half blind cook could see someone climbing up the castle walls…"

Robin cried out as the attacker yanked out the knife and held the blade at his throat. Already his sight began to turn black but he kept his eyes on the king who reached down and grabbed hold of the ring still hanging off the chain. With a swift tug, the king was yanking it from his person.

"This was meant to be hers, I take it?" Leopold pocketed the inexpensive ring that Robin knew would have meant the world to the Queen. "Too bad she'll never see it. I warned Regina to stop seeing you. I warned her what would happen if she saw you again…"

Leopold smirked as Robin tried to speak, his words indistinguishable thanks to the hand still over his mouth that still tingled with the taste of his Queen.

"Take your hand away," Leopold instructed the guard. "We're not monsters here, we offer opportunities for last words."

Robin swallowed hard as he looked up at the king who was grinning triumphantly down at him.

"Please…" Robin begged, hardly able to get the words past his lips. "Please…"

"Please what?" Leopold scoffed. "Spare you?"

The outlaw shook his head. "Please… Just let her go. Let her… Let her be happy." Robin swallowed hard at his final words. "Even if it- it's not with me…"

Leopold glared at the thief before he leaned down to get within an inch of his face, answering his wife's lover's request with one simple word.

"Never."

Leopold looked at his guard and gave a curt nod and a moment later the blade struck him in the heart. His final thought was of that elusive but satisfying smile he saw every time he closed his eyes.

Including the last time.

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